Re: SFLC chooses wrong court

[Bruce Lewis]

rjack <rjack@com> writes:

> If the suit goes forward (which I seriously doubt) the District Court
> will dismiss due to failure to state a federal claim. Contract claims
> are heard under the common law of state jurisdictions.

If the suit is sure to fail, why is Monsoon so eager to settle?  Are
they completely clueless about the legalities, or are you?

> Failing to distribute source code is a contract breach and not a
> violation of a work's permitted use under copyright law. There is
> obviously no provision under U.S. copyright law to *force* a party who
> has permission to copy and make derivative works to distribute those
> copyrighted works. Those actions are solely a contractual matter.

That's not what's at issue.  What's at issue is whether a party can copy
and make derivative works without permission.  Obviously copyright law
does say something about that.

To get permission to copy/distribute, Monsoon has to adhere to the terms
of the license.  It really is that simple.